Weird review. The game has a lot of problems as an FPS, and Verhoeven is exactly the kind of derivative huckster of "milquetoast" pseudocriticism as the guy behind Cruelty Squad (there is in fact considerable overlap between fans of the two).

i dont particularly see how Verhoeven's approach to Capitalism Bad is better than Cruelty Squad's considering both Robocop (his most notable work) and this approach it in a similar way, even if I prefer Cruelty Squad's approach because of it not being "law enforcement" but a glorified hitman and it just being immensely appalling to play and watch in action sells the inhumanity of the world in both plot and gameplay

@Xantha_Page I think the game is one of the best FPS i've played -- once you get past the mistake of treating it as a "tactical" shooter it becomes a playground for lightning fast digital murder, sort of a 3D Hotline Miami, in more ways than one, unless one also mistakenly plays Hotline Miami in the same boring "tactical" way.

@Xantha_Page (cont.) @Apocynadeae Verhoeven in both Robocop and Starship Troopers is more interesting than mere "Capitalism Bad". both films aren't strictly about "Capitalism", starship troopers isn't really at all--robocop is [primarily] about [over]militarization of police, tough on crime policy, etc., things not strictly related to capitalism (however one may protest, even the movie does), and starship troopers about fascist jingoism. he's also simply more cunning, and thus all the more biting--recall anecdotes of how Starship Troopers wasn't interpreted as satire for a decade or so. Cruelty Squad, on the other hand, seems entirely concerned with "Capitalism" in a very trite and very obvious way -- there are hints of (or at least bits which can be read as) an almost if not primitivist worldview (as there are in Bataille, who you probably know as this game's major influence) at most but even that is, at least in the case of the game, likely unintentional and just an artifact of the reactionary tendencies of many anti-capitalists. i just find FedNet much funnier and much more compelling satire than chunkopops at the end of the day. the latter is almost insulting. my opinion may very well change over time though.

forgive me because i'm struggling to put to words why i prefer Verhoeven so much over this game--i think it has to do with the fact that Verhoeven is just [relatively] more subtle. that might sound insane, but [again] recall that Starship Troopers wasn't interpreted as satire for years, and that Cruelty Squad is just incredibly on-the-nose and in-your-face with its chunkopops and organ markets and corporate arch-demons demanding sacrifice. it's puerile meme shit and there's no room for misinterpretation.

I get what you mean at least and I haven't watched Starship Troopers so I can't exactly comment on that but I also do consider that Cruelty Squad's thematics don't really start and end at Capitalism Bad as much as the world is immensely drenched in the capitalist outlook that the lenses of a lot of its themeing ends up being portrayed in the economic viewpoint. I think the most obvious part of this is the concept of life and death in Cruelty Squad as "life" is talked about in the economic sense, it's not valuable to be alive when death no longer really exists. The economical viewpoint is riddled everywhere in the game, and it can definetly be linked back to Capitalism Bad, but I think it's more occupied with the value of life in the figurative sense, where death gives reasons to live, and thus gives it value. The elimination of death is what destroys the reason why life is abundant, and thus leads to stagnation. It's a capitalist purgatory, where the denizens are neither alive nor dead, as much as they are there as a perpetual motion machine.

I do consider the themeings and ideas to be very simple when they've been ripped out the context of the work: "capitalism bad" and "life... is worth living..." are riddled in multiple works, but the excellence of Cruelty Squad's modus operandi stems not from the ideas, but the sheer commitment to those ideas. Everyone can say capitalism is bad, but very few could willingly create such a visceral, disgusting work to drive home the lack of humanity/life that's present in Cruelty Squad.

awesome review of how sophisticated you are personally to be above "milquetoast politics" like bataille

@Apocynadeae i interpreted the Life and Death symbolism as more an extension of the game's influence from Bataille. capitalism (and industry, etc.) is overflowing with Life and that is precisely the problem; it is cancerous. if we should do anything, we should embrace a politics of Death. not literal death obviously, but anything to stop the unrestrained energies of capital. either that and/or we bring back the potlatch. i don't think the game is saying anything close to "life is worth living". as for it's sheer commitment to its ideas, perhaps that's apart of what i mean when i say i find the game atmospherically interesting.

@dimi actually milquetoast is the wrong word, for some reason i thought "milquetoast" was synonym to "trite". thanks for inadvertently bringing that to my attention! and i was referring to the game, but yes by extension Bataille is ultimately just another communist. that is rather trite, beyond his hints at primitivism. there's nothing wrong with trite politics, i'm a libertarian anarchist, but it is artless, cringe, lame, etc. to make a piece of art out of mere trite politics, which is what i feel cruelty squad is doing. i would rather read nonfiction instead.

good attempt at justification! it seems you just have terrible politics and totally narcissistic aesthetic values, but keep going with that, brand-building matters most!

you are reading far much into me, possibly projecting some of your own soul in the process. if my expressing disinterest in trite politics expressed in art is "narcissistic", every criticism or review of media ever is "narcissistic"; aesthetics is "narcissism" all the way down. i posted a review to backloggd dot com on a whim, largely for myself without the expectation of anyone seeing it. (and now i largely regret people seeing it lmao) i am not exactly sure why you are so toxic or what makes you think you understand my motivations.

sorry man. you're just terrible at understanding politics, video games, art, stuff like that. I wish I could help but I can't. Hope you do better with other things

what a hollow response. almost as if you understand you have nothing to say. in the future i recommend responding with more maturity to people, in whatever way, disliking a piece of media you love!

Apologies for my snide comment from a few months ago; must have been in a bad mood.

it's all good.